Here’s a great slice of authentic garage psych rock from Los Angeles band Velvet Starlings, fronted by Christian Gisborne. ‘Kids In Droves’ cuts a fine balance between 60s UK mods sounds, a tough Britpop angle and US garage rock circa Nuggets. The single follows their self-titled EP of last year which has seen them generate some major radio attention and a US and UK tour dates. Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Velvet Starlings – Kids In Droves
Lambchop This (Is What I Wanted To Tell You) Merge Records The band Lambchop is a very different beast these days, compared to a decade ago when they numbered up to 12 members with more of a conventional country soul sound. Now Lambchop is essentially Kurt Wagner with a small coterie of collaborators – a much more intimate proposition yet still possessing the gorgeous and … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Lambchop – This (is what I wanted to tell you)
T-Rex, Devendra Banhart, freewheeling melodies soaring over folk and acoustic psych boogie sounds – those the are the elements at play on this delightful track from English songwriter David Ellis. ‘Eyes To The Sky’ breezes along on a warm, spring current of air with a bucolic and organic vibe that perfectly balances wide-eyed innocence and some serious songwriting craft. ‘Eyes To The Sky’ comes from … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: David Ellis – Eyes To The Sky
Some hypnotic ambient composition to round out the week on Doubtful Sounds. PCM is an Italian ambient trio comprised of musicians Francesco Perra (P), Matteo Cantaluppi (C), Matteo Milea (M). They’ve come together to record this non-album single ‘Ma’, ahead of a full-length release. It shimmers and drifts, it’s aqueous and cloud-like in the way it moves and transitions gently across nearly eight hypnotic minutes. Matteo … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: PCM – Ma
Beastwars IV Destroy Records Sometimes it takes monumental life events to galvanise a band, or any creative endeavour for that matter. In the case of New Zealand band Beastwars it was the diagnosis singer Matt Hyde received, confirming Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. In the weeks following his chemotherapy treatment the band hit the studio and recorded their fourth album – a blistering, pummelling, cathartic battle cry of … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Beastwars – IV
A couple of months back we shared the Japanese Television track ‘Bloodworm’. Now their back with the new single ‘Crocodile Dentist’, a swirling, disorientating headlong plunge down the psychedelic rabbit hole. Like a lost 60s relic of a bad trip, the song has a wild and fevered feeling to it. Urgent and spiralling, a kaleidoscopic heady mix of garage rock and b-grade horror that buries … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Japanese Television – Crocodile Dentist
Madison Major of Brooklyn, New York is Champ Major, an experimental folk artist who’s aesthetic is one of creating a sonic environment to match her songs and stories. In the case of ‘Enjoy’ from her EP Receipe For Baking Two Humans Together, it’s a thick and foggy sound, akin to a radio transmission from a distant time and place. Acoustic guitar and a yearning voice … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Champ Major – Enjoy
Obstacle are a USA trio comprised of Annie Murnighan (Found Object), Elias Jarzombek, and Amos Damroth (AJE). They’ve only been around for a year and a half but they already have three digital releases under their belt, including this latest one ‘Unknown Number’. It’s a track that runs its sounds through murky ominous filters with heavily treated and unrecognisable vocals and really interesting rhythms and … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Obstacle – Unknown Number
Amyl & The Sniffers Amyl & The Sniffers Flightless Records Roaring out of the gates like an amalgam of Motorhead, AC/DC and The Datsuns, Amyl & The Sniffers know the power of simplicity, attitude and abandon on their debut self-titled album. It’s a lean 11 songs that capture the spirit and verve of their live shows surprisingly well due to an avoidance of unnecessary studio … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Amyl & The Sniffers – Amyl & The Sniffers
Swirling, driving, insistent psychedelia is the order of the day on ‘Mantra’, the new track from Detroit band 3ft. It’s one of those songs that feels like it could spiral on endlessly, much like Wooden Shjips or Stereolab at their most hypnotic moments. 3ft have more of a droning psych-rock edge though, filtered through Krautrock, The Clean and Velvet Underground style jangle and verve. The … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: 3ft – Mantra
Christopher Willits is an acclaimed ambient composer and musician who has opened for the late Jóhann Jóhannsson and released two albums with Ryuichi Sakamoto and productions with Tycho as part of his impressive back catalogue. The five compositions on his new album Sunset move from warm to cool designed as a soundtrack to embrace the day’s end. ‘Coast’ rises and falls like the ocean currents, a tidal blend of synth … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Christopher Willits – Sunset
A while ago we posted about a track from Joey Beltran called Childhood Memories which was our first taste of this new compilation Pure Sounds of Michigan, an ambient album that invites listeners to take a sunrise-to-sunset tour of Michigan from coast to coast as interpreted by some of the state’s most talented musicians. The album came out a few weeks ago on Detroit-based Assemble Sound, and was imagined, … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Windy & Carl – Forest Trails
Doubtful Sounds 